Indonesia’s Go-Jek close to profits in all segments — CEO
JAKARTA: Go- Jek, Indonesia’s first billion- dollar startup, is “extremely close” to achieving profitability in all its segments, except transportation, its founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Nadiem Makarim told Reuters.
Launched in 2011 in Jakarta, Go- Jek - a play on the local word for motorbike taxis - has evolved from a ride-hailing service to a one- stop app allowing clients in Southeast Asia’s largest economy to make online payments and order everything from food, groceries to massages.
“We’re seeing enormous online to offline traction for all of our businesses and are close to being profitable, outside of transportation,” said the 34-year old CEO.
The startup is expected to be fully profitable “probably” within the next few years, Makarim added.
Already a market leader in Indonesia, where it processes more than 100 million transactions for its 20 to 25 million monthly users, Go- Jek is now looking to expand in Southeast Asia.
Ride hailing services in Southeast Asia are expected to surge to US$ 20.1 billion in gross merchandise value by 2025 from US$ 5.1 billion in 2017, according to a GoogleTemasek report.
Go- Jek said in May it would invest US$ 500 million to enter Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, after Uber struck a deal to sell its Southeast Asian operations to Grab - the bigger player in the region.
Go- Jek is seeing strong funding interest from its backers as it targets an aggressive expansion, Makarim said.
“Since its August 1 launch, the app has already grabbed 15 per cent of market share in Ho Chi Minh,” Makarim said. The firm this week opened recruitment for motorcycle drivers in Thailand.
The startup expects anti-monopoly concerns swirling around the Grab-Uber deal, which Singapore said had substantially hurt competition, to help clear a path for its expansion.
“We’re bringing back choice. The Singapore government is particularly eager to bring back competition,” Makarim said, adding that the order of overseas rollouts had not been set.